Who Wants to Be Prime Minister

Ok, so is an election which will take place on October 14th (that's right American's we go from election call to election in less then two months) and the choices are slim for who to vote if you plan on voting for who should be PM rather then who will represent your area. In the Canadian system you really should vote for the best local candidate, but lets be honest most of us vote on party lines for who should be the PM. So lets take a look at the options:


Stephen Harper (Leader of the Conservative Party): AKA Harpo, Stephen Harper is the current Prime Minister of Canada and has been so for the last three years. Despite his campaign promise of fixed election dates and open and honest government he has called a snap election in order to take advantage of the Liberals having such a weak showing in the current polls. Harper actually adopted a law to force the election dates to a static date, and yet called a snap election because he claims he can no longer run the government as a minority power, yet he also predicts he will win this election and have another minority government.


Stephan Dion (Leader of the Liberal Party): AKA ummm who is this guy? Stephan Dion is the Leader of the Liberal party, no seriously he is I looked it up. Stephan Dion has less charisma than Stephan Harper (and considering he'd lose out to a wet noodle in that department that's pretty sad). He seems to shy away from the camera and has little to say other then "Harper, bad man". Ok sure there is a Liberal platform, somewhere just give the Liberals some time to dust it off will you I am sure we'll hear about it any day now.


Jack Layton (Leader of the New Democratic Party): AKA Happy Jack, (and in case you are wondering, yes Canadians do nickname all the prime time candidates) Happy Jack is the most charismatic candidate in this race, which isn't saying much considering lame and lamer mentioned above. Jack himself is a tool in my books, constantly putting his foot in his mouth and blundering through his career blindly. However he has made some pretty effective deals to prop up various minority governments in the past. Jack is a good opposition leader, can he make a good PM? Only one way to find out, I know I'll be voting orange (NDP's colour is orange) this election.


Gilles Duceppe (leader of the Bloq Quebecois): AKA Traitor, Why even talk about this guy, unless you are from Quebec you can't vote for the Bloq, and if you are from quebec you better be pure blood quebecois if you expect him to do much for you, and you better be ready for yet another referendum vote on if Quebec should split from Canada.


Elizabeth May (Leader of the Green Party): AKA OMG is she ever going to get a seat in parliament. Whats to be said about Liz, well not much, you can't go on her voting record cause she has yet to sit in parlaiment, you can't go by her charisma because being a green you never see her on TV, you can't go by her platform (well ok the greens have a pretty well defined platform, but COME ON they are the green party, does anyone take them seriously?). Another note to consider is that the green and the liberals have a deal in which in many ridings they won't run candidates against each other. They are working together it seems, which is why the Conservatives and the NDP are opposed to the Greens being able to be at the televised debate since, in theory, it would mean there are two Liberals at the event.


Dennis Young (Leader of the Libertarian Party): AKA ummm sorry don't have one for him. Libritarians have a party in Canada really... wow.


Blair T. Longley (Leader of the Marijuana Party): AKA pass the dutchie on the left hand side. Forget the Green party vote FOR green;).




Ok so there are more, but come on who votes for anyone but Liberal Conservative or NDP anyways.

In case you do, or at least want to see other parties, here is a list of the registered parties according to elections Canada.

Legalizing All Drugs

Ok, everyone who reads this knows that I am all for the legalization of marijuana, but of late there has been a lot of talk in the press about legalizing all drugs. This is certainly an extreme view amongst legalization circles, and on this one I am not entirely decided. I mean on one hand, its not really my business what someone else injects into their body, if they want to kill themselves slowly or quickly that's their business, on the other hand many drugs are highly addictive and once a person starts its hard to stop, although I reject the notion that after one taste you can be hopelessly addicted to ANY substance for life, I don't care how addictive it is using anything once does not make you an adict.

The money that would be saved in enforcement would be beyond measure really, but how much of that would just be redirected to health care due to deteriorating health. There is a simple solution to that and say you can't get treated under governemnt health plans for ailments resulting from dangerous behaviours, it has to come out of your own poket. This is something I am actually rather a proponent of, ie if you are an alchoholic and your liver has issues, you have to pay for the treatment, if you are a smoker and get lung cancer you have to pay for the treatment, if you are a meth adict you have to pay for the treatment to get you out. However accidents and general illnesses of course would be covered. Of course the problem with this line of thought is where do you draw the line? Is a skydiver elegiable for coverage if his shute malfunctions? Skydiving is a dangerous activity.

In my mind marijuana obviously should be legalized, the proven negative effects are so incredibly small as to not even count. There is no logical reason to keep marijuana illegal. Other drugs, I still am unsure about. Though, as with marijuana, regulation is always the better option to prohibition.

Election

Ok, so Harper finally saw fit to call an election. So much for his promised set election dates eh, but who honestly expects politicians to follow through with election promises once they are in office.

But now that the elections are eminent campaigning is in full swing, though I did notice some Conservative election signs up before the actual call, but lets ignore that (just like I am sure Elections Canada will), and now Harper and his Conservatives have announced an additional 9billion in spending on the first day in parliament since the call, but Harper expects Canadians to believe that this sudden spending spree has nothing to do with the elections. Come on Mr. Harper, how stupid do you think... oh wait, you got in for one term already, obviously the average Canadian voter is really that stupid.